From Android To iPhone X

List every idiom of improbability, and “Rishi using an iPhone” is somewhere on that list. A few days ago, my Pixel 2 was irreparably damaged, and regrettably, I had cancelled the handset insurance (which I had for YEARS before) in the last month. Talk about bad luck. 🙁

I could have purchased another Pixel 2, but the iPhone X was in stock and was calling out to me. Yes, it’s a new form factor with several obvious drawbacks. Yes, I have harped on the advantages of Android over iOS for years. And most importantly, every time I tried to switch to an iPhone (the 4 and the 6), I had to return them both within a week due to frustrating limitations with the operating system.

I use a MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and a “Hackintosh” running MacOS. Naturally, it makes sense for me to have an iPhone to create a seamless experience across all my devices. I used Android smartphones for the longest time because they were just more “open” – better hardware, better options, etc. Additionally, I used to program in Android and wanted to always stay updated with the latest refinements in the world’s most popular mobile OS. Now I’ve focused my programming more on web platforms and am interested in making my medicine-related workflow more uniform.

So I did it. I got the iPhone X.

I was already very comfortable with the operating system coming from an iPad Pro and troubleshooting friends’ iPhones for years. While the pitfalls were initially very annoying, they’ve become tolerable and the advantages to having a streamlined set of devices which can communicate with each other is becoming more enjoyable. For example, for YEARS Google could not properly create a method to provide universal messaging across all platforms with integrated SMS/MMS. iMessage does this perfectly.

Furthermore, I feel like there are just better medical applications for iOS users. Android has a decent selection, but nothing that rivals the quality of applications like 3D4’s Complete Heart.

With the Nexus/Pixel smartphones, the fingerprint scanner is perfectly positioned on the back of the phone where my index finger naturally rests. I can unlock the phone as I pulled it out of my pocket nearly 100% of the time. Although Face ID seems like a great feature on the iPhone X, I was worried it would drastically slow down my initial interaction with the device each time I picked it up. Come to find out, while it is slower (not by much), it’s very tolerable and helpful on cold Boston commutes when I don’t want to take off my gloves. 🙂

I miss front-facing speakers. And a fingerprint scanner. And double-clicking the side button to jump into the camera application. And using a swipe-down gesture on the fingerprint scanner to drop down the notification bar. And quick charging out of the box. And the USB-C port. And so many other things about Android devices.